


Blind as Ice

by Saki_Lyn



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Brothers Germany & Prussia (Hetalia), Conflict, Crossover, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Epic Battles, Fire Nation (Avatar), Fire Nation Royal Family, Firebending & Firebenders, Legends, Multi, Original Character(s), Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Republic City, Southern Water Tribe, Steampunk, War, Waterbending & Waterbenders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-02-27 22:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13258236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saki_Lyn/pseuds/Saki_Lyn
Summary: Fifty years after Avatar Korra defeated Kuvira, the world is once again slipping into disorder. The Southern Water Tribe is at war with the Fire Nation, but no one knows for certain who shot first. Sympathies lie primarily with the Fire Nation, however, as many doubt the legitimacy of the Southern Water Tribe's current chiefs: a trio of Slavic siblings with snow white hair who are rumored to be more powerful than the Avatar herself. Meanwhile, Princess Akemi of the Fire Nation shows a peculiar interest in water tribe culture, which her father considers treasonous. Her fateful decision will prove to be the turning point that restores the world to balance, or throws it deeper into chaos.





	1. Branded

Chapter One: Branded

 

_Thirty years ago, in the poorest corner of the Southern Water Tribe’s greatest city, a young woman gave birth to a baby girl with snow white hair. “What a beautiful child,” the midwife said reverently. “Not since Yue was princess of the North has there been a tribesman with hair this white. And even she was not born with it, but was given it.” The young mother beamed with pride, and held her little baby daughter tightly, as if guarding a precious treasure._

__

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_A little over a year later, the same mother gave birth to a son, also with snow white hair. “My goodness,” the midwife said. “I never expected it to run in the family. Never in the history of our tribes have there been two with the mark of the moon, and certainly not a brother and sister. Your family will be well remembered.” The mother took her son in her arms, a little less proud than she had been with his sister, but still every bit as protective._

_Within another year, the mother gave birth to a third child, another baby girl, and once again with snow white hair. “I don’t know what to say,” the midwife said, shocked. “I don’t know what this could mean...” She almost refused to wrap the tiny child in her swaddling, but bit back her astonishment long enough to accomplish at least that. Even in an increasingly shrinking world, the mark of the moon held deep significance for the people of the Southern Water Tribe. It signified deep connection to the source of all waterbenders’ energy, and hinted at extraordinary power. Not always of the positive sort. The mother took the little baby in her arms, same as she had the other two, but she was filled with uncertainty._

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_As the children grew, all three revealed themselves to be talented waterbenders, much to the unease of those around them. Not even Princess Yue had been a bender._

__

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_Regardless, the three reveled in their talent. They loved to stage mock duels against each other to test their strength and practice new techniques, as many local masters refused to teach them. The oldest girl was often reluctant to fight offensively, but once provoked was a force to be reckoned with. She also had incredible healing powers, and would tend to her siblings whenever they got carried away. The middle child, the boy, was an architect, and he loved constructing colossal forms of snow and ice. But the youngest girl was the true hurricane. Her specialty was daggers of ice, which she could hurl through the air at nearly untraceable speed._

__

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_Knowing this, it is easy to understand why the local masters were reluctant to instruct them, but in the end, this did little to stop the children from learning._

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_One winter, when the children were still quite young, the city was struck by the worst blizzard in living memory. Massive snowdrifts engulfed entire houses. Vicious winds tore apart even the sturdiest buildings in the city, ripping rooftops and spiriting away possessions. Visibility was impossible. The entire world was as blank as a clear sky._

__

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_The young mother sprinted quickly home from her morning errands, anxious to make certain her children were safe. She checked the living quarters of their yurt, then the sleeping quarters, but she could not find them. She slid to her knees and fell into despair. She called her neighbors, then she called the police, but there was nothing anyone could do until the blizzard passed. The young mother wailed in utter helplessness._

__

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_But just a short while later, the blizzard disappeared, almost as quickly as it had arrived. The young woman immediately leapt up and ran outside, determined to find her children. As she ran, she noticed many of her neighbors doing the same. They felt the need to investigate, so sudden and strange was the disappearance of the blizzard. Scanning around, she noticed a suspicious crowd gathered near the edge of town, full of people pointing and gesturing wildly. A small speck had appeared on the white ribbon of the horizon._

__

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_The young woman joined the crowd and squinted at the speck, a part of her already knowing what it was. And sure enough: as the point grew larger, it separated into three, the frames of her three missing children. “We stopped the blizzard, Mother,” the youngest girl said, with a proud grin that bordered on cruel._

__

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_When the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe heard of the blizzard incident, he immediately sent for the three powerful children. He arranged for them to finally receive lessons from waterbending masters, and in exchange, asked for them to become his personal bodyguards. The three agreed, and they moved into the chief’s palace, rarely leaving his side._

__

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_Not long after that, however, the chief suddenly passed away. Since he had no biological heirs, the chieftainship fell to his three young charges. They have been the tribe’s co-chiefs ever since. Beyond doubt, they are the most powerful waterbenders to ever hold that title. They are both loved and feared by their people, for no one knows the true extent of their power._

 

***

 

The Southern Water Tribe hadn’t always had a palace. None of the previous chiefs had felt such a grand display of power necessary. The current chiefs reportedly didn’t think so either, but nonetheless, within the first few years of their reign, the crystalline leviathan had appeared on the outskirts of the capital, sprawling from the side of a mountain like a massive gem made for giants. According to rumor, the middle co-chief, the brother, had built it all by himself.

But it did not look like something made by men. It looked alive, like it had emerged of its own volition: a whale breaching the waves and frozen in place forevermore. It certainly didn’t look like a proper building. It had no walls to speak of, nor any distinct geometric shape. Scores of massive ice crystals converged to form its frigid halls and rooms, as pale gelid blue as aquamarine. When the sunset hit it just right, the entire palace became a wildfire.

The throne room was said to be one of its most spectacular features, but very few had ever seen it in person. The three co-chiefs typically only held private meetings in there, occasionally inviting a trusted advisor but mostly keeping to themselves. The room really was spectacular, though. Situated at the heart of the haunting palace, it comprised of a long, grand hallway, framed on either side by impossibly thin spires of ice that rose several stories into the sky. Decorated above by chandeliers lit by a strange blue incandescence, the hallway led to three thrones, which were works of art in and of themselves. They sat atop a high pedestal, with a wide staircase leading up to them. The chairs themselves were intricately carved with illustrations and designs depicting legends from water tribe mythology, ringed by traditional motifs. The very tops of the thrones’ backs were wickedly sharp, though, and according to rumor, whenever the third co-chief, the younger girl, was angry with an advisor, she would chip off a piece and hurl it at the source of her wrath.

The eldest co-chief, Ekaterina, sat in the leftmost of the three thrones. With worried eyes, she watched her younger brother make a slow and deliberate procession back and forth across the expansive room.

“Honestly, if something had happened to her, we would have heard about it by now,” she said in an attempt to stop him. He was making her dizzy, and she was fretting enough already without his incessant pacing. 

But he did not stop. “I am not worried about Natalya. She can take care of herself. I am preoccupied with greater matters. Like this war.”

“That’s what this meeting is for, brother. We will discuss it all when she gets here. She promised to be here by late afternoon. Stop being so impatient.”

“It is already six.”

“You know Natasha, always pushing things to the last minute…”

“This is not the last minute. This is late.”

The woman smiled coldly to herself. She knew better than to argue with her brother when he was like this. Worried about his little sister, but too stubborn and prideful to admit it.

Suddenly the two felt the ice around them begin to tremble. The crystals dangling in the chandeliers above clinked delicately against each other. The chiefs peered down the long hall and saw a massive white form advancing rapidly towards them, causing the ground to shake beneath its powerful paws as it galloped. It was Natalya at last, riding in on her polar bear dog. She always loved a dramatic entrance.

“I am sorry I am late,” she said in a flat tone devoid of sincerity. She dismounted, forming a smooth slide of ice to carry her from the animal’s back to the floor. As the slide melted away, the massive hybrid sank onto its front paws in exhaustion. Natalya’s battle armor clanged against itself as she strode over to her siblings.

“What have I told you about bringing Pashenka indoors?” Ekaterina scolds, gracefully rising from her throne and narrowing her eyes at her sister. Her long icy dress trailed out behind her as she descended the stairs towards her younger siblings, reflecting little bits of the golden, setting sun trickling in through the icy columns, making its way to the horizon. It would not set completely, however. Daylight in the Antarctic summer was eternal.

Natalya rolled her eyes. “This hardly counts as ‘indoors,’ Katyusha. Where are the walls? I can see the snowfields through the columns.” She tossed her long white hair over her shoulder. “Besides, Pashenka is always well groomed.”

“It is nice to see you alive and well, sister,” Ivan interjected.

Natalya nodded to him curtly in greeting. “Relatively. I got hit in the leg by shrapnel from an Incinerator yesterday.” Again, she tossed her hair over her shoulder in an attempt to appear tough and indifferent to the wound, but Ivan could tell from her slight limp that she was bluffing. “So, are we going to get this meeting started or what? I need to be back on the frontlines by tomorrow morning.”

“Very well, why don’t we start with your report?”

“Do you want the long version or the short version?”

“What’s the short version?”

“Everything’s gone straight to hell,” she replied matter-of-factly, leaning over and petting Pashenka on the snout.

“And the long version?” Ekaterina asked when she didn’t elaborate.

Natalya paused to collect her thoughts. “About five hundred casualties in the last battle, almost four hundred of which are confirmed fatalities. A good chunk of that was from our best waterbending battalion, too…” She continued on, laying out the grim truth to her siblings in explicit detail. When she was finished with the figures, she switched to strategy. What had worked – a relatively short list - and what had not worked – a much longer list. “Overall, I believe it’s safe to say that after almost nine years of holding our defense, we are officially losing this war.”

She gave Pashenka a final scratch behind the ear and climbed the stairs to her throne, unceremoniously throwing herself onto it, metal armor clanging loudly. She broke off a chunk from the chair’s handle and fashioned herself a mug from the ice. Taking out a thin flask from her pocket, she poured a portion of clear liquid into it, the drops sparkling in the pale sunlight streaming in between the hall’s columns. “So, what’s our next move, brother and sister dearest?”

Ekaterina glanced at Ivan, grimacing at Natalya’s drinking, then looked back to her sister. “Let me remind you that I was in favor of unconditional surrender from the beginning, and I have not changed my position. This war has gone on for too long, and there has been too much unnecessary bloodshed.”

Natalya huffed, gulping the contents of her mug in one long swallow and glaring at her sister. “Yeah, yeah, I know you’re too soft to weather out a long war. That’s why I’m the one stuck on the frontlines while you two sit around here watching the icicles melt.”

“Natalya…” Ivan warned.

“Well, you both know what I think we should do.”

“And what’s that?” her brother asked.

She sat up in her throne and leaned forward, putting her hands on her knees. “I think all three of us should go into battle and end the war once and for all.”

“And how would the three of us make the difference?” Ekaterina demanded.

“We’re the three most powerful waterbenders alive. The three of us together could beat the Avatar herself, let alone a measly platoon of Fire Nation scum.”

Ekaterina scoffed. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to believe all the legends they’re making up about us.”

“They’re not legends! They’re the truth! You just want people to think that they’re legends so they don’t fear us as much.”

“Why would we ever want our citizens to fear us?!” her sister demanded.

Natalya’s glare turned to something darker. “Fear has power over people. It breeds loyalty.”

Ekaterina’s gaze grew equally icy. “I disagree. Fear and subjugation is the last thing we need. And I am afraid that if we go into battle and reveal the true extent of our power that is exactly what we will get. And if the world sees nothing but a nation held together by fear, there will be nowhere left for the Southern Water Tribe to turn.”

Natalya’s eyes narrowed to slits. “We wouldn’t need to turn anywhere. We would be unstoppable.”

“Sisters!” Ivan thrust out an arm, casting a thick wall of ice between the two. He was glad he managed to intervene before they had resorted to a duel, as so often had happened when they were children. “I have an idea. An alternative. What if I travel to the United Republic and request military aid from the president?”

The two women turned and scowled at their brother, annoyed that he had put a stop to their argument before it had even really begun.

“It would not be as extreme as unconditional surrender,” Ivan continued, glancing at Natalya. “But it would not be as dramatic as our direct participation in combat.” He looked to Ekaterina. “In fact, we might even acquire a much-needed ally.”

Neither sister looked particularly satisfied by their brother’s proposal, but after some hesitation, they nodded, unable to think of a better idea. Natalya opened her mouth in an attempt to argue, but when her brother gave her a look colder than the ice he had cast, she thought better of it.

It was decided that he would set out later that night on a steamship bound for Republic City, accompanied by some of the finest delegates and waterbenders in the tribe, at least among those still left alive. Never in their reign had such a mission been attempted, and they would have to take care to ensure that everything went smoothly.

Natalya set out for the frontlines again, eager to resume command of the water tribe’s armed forces and beat the hell out of a few firebenders to vent her frustration. Despite poor Pashenka’s fatigue, he carried her off swiftly, leaving the throne room once more in unshakable silence.

Only Ekaterina remained, resuming her place on the leftmost throne. She sighed at the sight of the two empty chairs beside her.

 

***

 

“I am terribly sorry, but there’s nothing I can do for you,” the president said, his hands folded neatly over his mahogany desk. “You must understand.”

Ivan regarded him carefully. He was uncertain what exactly the president wanted him to understand, and he grew more and more impatient with each minute it took to figure it out. But he knew he needed to keep his temper in check. The fate of his tribe depended on it.

“Yes, I understand, Mr. President. But tell me again, why is it that you won’t consider at least sending aid to the refugees of this war?”

The president readjusted himself in his chair and sighed heavily. He was a portly little man, and Ivan couldn’t help but wonder how many fatty sweets that salary of his could afford. “That I would love to do, but the trouble is the merchants of Republic City would never dare sail in such unfriendly waters, and I can’t risk sending any vessels from my naval fleet, for fear of antagonizing the Firelord. That man has the quickest temper I’ve ever met, and he’s a bit too trigger-happy if you ask me, hm. However.” He looked up, finally meeting Ivan’s hard gaze. “Perhaps if you were to reconsider that trade agreement we proposed a few years back, that may provide reasonable incentive for my merchants to take the risk…”

“I would have to consult my sisters on that matter.”

“Oh really?” the president said. “I was under the impression that you were the chief of the Southern Water Tribe…”

“No, we are co-chiefs,” Ivan explained tersely, temper rising by the minute. “We share equal power and make all major decisions in council with each other.”

“Really? What an interesting custom, hm. Tell me, have you ever run into trouble with that?”

Ivan pretended not to hear the question. Instead he tried to direct the conversation back to the matter at hand. “Mr. President, this war has gone on for far too long. It has been unnecessarily brutal for both sides. And as I previously explained to you, it was not started by the Southern Water Tribe. My people are tired and suffering greatly. If you were able to provide even the barest minimum of aid, we would be incredibly grateful…”

“Say, do you golf?”

Ivan blinked. “Do I what?” 

“I said, do you golf? This sounds like a conversation that could easily be taken to its logical conclusion over a good nine holes or so.”

“I am sorry, I do not know of this game,” Ivan replied, his frustration mounting.

The president leaned back in his chair. “Hm, that is a crying shame. Terrific sport, golf. But I suppose there isn’t much room for proper courses in a frozen wasteland.”

Ivan stared at the portly little president, wondering how the man managed to stay in power so effortlessly while he and his sisters had to claw tooth and nail for every day they sat on their thrones. Wasn’t democracy supposed to be tied to the will of the people? If so, then what kind of people would elect this as their leader?

He glanced at the decanter of water sitting on the corner of the president’s desk. All it would take is a quick motion of his hand, and he could slice this man to ribbons. Or blow him to fragments with a water compression bomb. Or strangle him by forcing the water down his gelatinous throat… he attempted to calm himself by thinking of all the different ways he could kill this toad rat.

He composed himself and made one final attempt at bringing the man to reason. “If there is a possibility, however slight, please consider the hungry in the refugee camps, and the soldiers dying with each day the war continues…”

The president leaned forward. “It sounds to me like that’s something you should have thought of before waging war with the Fire Nation.”

Ivan was a step away from strangling the man with the water in the decanter. “As I said, we did not start this war. They attacked us. We are acting in self-defense,” he explained, his voice low and deadly patient.

“Hm, that is rather unfortunate. Regardless, I’m afraid I don’t think I can help you. Even if I could, we would have to wait for any act of aid to be ratified by the parliament, which could take up to several months. That’s democracy for you, I’m afraid. Not nearly as straightforward as your chiefdom.”

“Co-chiefdom,” Ivan corrected through gritted teeth.

“Even so, my hands are tied. Yes,” The president swiveled in his chair. “Why don’t you try asking the Avatar to help you? She’s from your tribe, isn’t she? I’m sure she would be sympathetic to your little dilemma.”

At that moment, Ivan would have killed the infuriating little man right then and there, if it weren’t for a knock on the door. 

“Um, Mr. President? I uh…”

A scrawny teenage boy with short curly blonde hair and a clipboard poked his head through the doorframe. He balked on seeing Ivan standing before the president’s desk. “I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt. I didn’t know you had an appointment scheduled at this time…”

“Hm yes. I may have forgotten to pencil in our little chat to the official schedule…” the president trailed off absently.

Upon hearing that, Ivan decided it would be wise not to waste any more of his precious time. Maybe Natalya was right. Perhaps the three of them really should reveal to the world what they were truly capable of and be done with it. No more innocent lives needed to be lost. He concentrated his energy on the decanter, causing it to explode harmlessly into vaporous shards of glass and water. The president leapt a mile from his seat and squealed some surprisingly colorful obscenities for a man of high class. 

With that, Ivan stormed out of the office, past the aid, who squeaked and reflexively shielded himself with his clipboard. 

When he was already several paces down the hall, he overheard the aid ask the president: “Was that the Ice K-King?”

***

As Ivan made his way out of the president’s office, his top aid, a quiet and solidly-built young man with glasses and unusually light hair for a waterbender, immediately leapt up from his chair in the antechamber and followed swiftly behind his chief, sensing his subdued ire.

“I guess that means the president turned us down, eh?” he asked quietly, carefully treading the line between learning how the meeting went and stoking the chief’s anger further.

“I don’t think that question merits an answer, Matthew,” Ivan replied.

The man had enough experience working with Ivan to know better than to take it any further. He followed along in silence, the two of them making their way down the long and regally decorated corridor of the upper floor of the United Republic’s primary executive building. The portraits of former politicians and dignitaries flashed their solemn eyes at them as they hurried past. Matthew fleetingly wondered how the Republic could’ve already had so many leaders in its relatively short history.

Suddenly, Ivan stopped. Matthew, who had been tailing closely behind, nearly walked into him. “What is-”

Ivan raised a hand for silence. He glanced at a closed door to the right. A clipped and heated conversation emanated from the other side, with only the occasional coherent word or phrase making its way through. “Go on ahead, Matthew,” he said in a low whisper. “Get Slava saddled and ready.”

“What should I tell the rest of the delegates?”

“Assemble them for a meeting. Tell them I will return soon.”

Matthew, suspecting what the chief had in mind but in no position to argue with him, did as he was told, leaving Ivan alone in the corridor. He listened curiously to the loud voices coming through the door. If they had really wanted to keep their discussion a secret, they should have spoken more quietly.

“…that the princess is currently somewhere in the city, and you have no way of telling me where she was last sighted?!”

“As I told you, we only know she’s here based on what our intelligence people in the Fire Nation told us. The last time she was seen she was sneaking on to a cargo steamship that was headed to Republic City. We have no way of confirming that she did in fact arrive here. She could have stowed away on another ship for all we know!”

“Well, then why don’t we try and find out for certain?? I want my best trackers on this right away! We can’t have the Fire Nation come rolling into town and send their own police after her. Or worse, the Royal Guard. They don’t have clearance for either, and you can be sure they won’t ask for it if they want to keep her disappearance a secret from the Water Tribes! Regardless, locating the princess is our responsibility. I intend to do whatever it takes to keep this city in order!!”

At that moment, Ivan opened the door and casually strolled in, much to the shock of the men having the animated discussion. They were members of the Republic City Metalbending Police Force. That much was obvious from their clinking, shiny uniforms alone. Ivan had heard they wore as much metal on them as possible without sacrificing mobility, in order to have plenty of potential ammunition on them at all times.

The first man – the owner of the louder, angrier voice, if one could judge by the deep shade of crimson in his face – was a tall, broad-shouldered man. He wore his lemon blonde hair slicked back and neatly out of the way, not a strand out of place. His steely blue eyes bored holes into the intruder. Judging by the insignia on his uniform, this was the police chief.

The second one was considerably smaller, but looked wiry, full of pent-up energy, like a coiled spring. His hair was as white as Ivan’s, but wilder and more unkempt. His eyes were deep red, and he had the kind of mouth that looked like it was curled in a permanent mischievous smirk.

“Terribly sorry for the intrusion, gentlemen,” Ivan said. “But I couldn’t help but overhear a few things as I was passing by.”

“What are you doing here, Ice King?” the smaller one snarled with unrestrained contempt. 

“Brother,” the other man warned. “Try and be civil, for once in your life. This is the chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Address him by his proper title. However,” he continued, fixing his intense eyes firmly on Ivan. “That is a legitimate question. What are you doing here? This is a private meeting room for discussing sensitive matters of the Republic City Police.”

“No, I meant what is he doing here in the United Republic?” the white-haired man said. “It can’t be anything good.”

“Brother, please,” the blonde man sighed.

“I did not mean to pry,” Ivan said, ignoring the insult. “I was just walking through after a diplomatic meeting with your president, and I happened to hear you gentlemen discussing a missing princess. That wouldn’t happen to be the heir apparent of the Fire Nation, would it?”

The two officers looked at each other. “Yes, we are discussing the missing fire princess,” the blonde one admitted reluctantly, seeing no way to deny it if the water chief had already overheard. 

“And she is currently at large in Republic City?”

“… we suspect so, yes.” 

“Well, is there any way I could assist in your search? I came to the city with an envoy of some of the best waterbenders in my tribe, and we also have a few polar bear dogs with us. They are excellent trackers.”

“We don’t need your help!” the white-haired one spat. “You’ve caused enough trouble in the world already!”

“Gilbert.” His brother put a hand on his shoulder. “We appreciate your offer, but this is a matter for the Republic City Police to handle alone. We would also greatly appreciate if you said nothing of what you have heard to anyone, including the advisers you brought with you. Can we trust you to stay quiet?” 

“Of course we can’t! He’s the chief of the Southern Water Tribe! He and his sisters don’t even have a right to the thrones they sit on! He-“

With the quick movement of his brother’s raised fist, a thin band of metal from his uniform clamped itself firmly around Gilbert’s mouth, cutting off his tirade abruptly. “Can we trust you?” the blonde man repeated.

“You can trust me,” Ivan said solemnly, with a careful smile. “I apologize once again for barging in so rudely, and I wish you success in your search for the missing princess. I hope she is returned to her family quickly and safely.” With that, he turned and walked out of the room.

“Was he lying?” Gilbert asked his brother, bending the band of metal off of his face and crumpling it into a scrappy little ball. Exceptional earth and metalbenders could use subtle vibrations in the ground to detect palpitations in a person’s heartbeat. They could separate truth from lies.

“Of course he was lying. Send out an officer to tail him on his way back to the guesthouse those waterbenders are staying at.”

***

Ivan found Slava saddled up and waiting for him outside the executive building. She perked her ears excitedly and wagged her big fluffy tail at the sight of her master approaching. He stooped down and petted her gently on the head, giving her a scratch behind the ears for good measure. Glancing around suspiciously, he leapt up and mounted his polar bear dog, nudging her on with his heels. Even as they rode off, he could not shake the feeling of being followed.

Sure enough, a few blocks later he noticed a rather conspicuous metalbending officer several yards behind him, making great effort to pretend to be staring intensely at nothing every time Ivan turned around. A couple blocks more and he was still there, still staring at nothing.

Up ahead, Ivan spotted a rather impressive tower built entirely out of cabbages, supposedly part of some vender’s display. Right as Slava lumbered past, catching incredulous looks from the customers left and right, Ivan carefully bent the water out of his canteen, using Slava’s body to block it from the view of the officer behind him. With the slightest movements of his arms, he guided the water into a pothole in the cobblestone street, spreading it as thin as he could and freezing it into black ice, right in front of the cabbage tower.

A few seconds later, as the officer came to the vender’s display, he put his foot directly on the puddle of ice and slipped tremendously across its slick surface, slamming headlong into the tower of produce. The cabbages immediately toppled over, crashing down on the poor office and completely burying him.

As soon as he was satisfied with the demise of the policeman, Ivan dug his heels hard into Slava’s sides, urging her into a gallop, and they took off. He smirked a little to himself. Behind them came the indignant cry of the unfortunate produce vender: “My cabbages!”

***

When Ivan finally returned, he found Matthew standing outside the guesthouse waiting for him, his face crinkled in anxiety. Ivan dismounted Slava and tethered her to a riding post, shaking his head and scoffing at how concerned his aid looked. 

“So, let’s start with how the meeting with the president went,” Matthew said as the two of them walked into the inn.

“Matthew, as I said before, that isn’t worth discussing.”

“You could at least give the details on how he turned you down.”

Ivan sighed. “That man is an idiot. That is all you need to know.”

Matthew huffed in annoyance, growing tired of his chief’s evasiveness, but nonetheless knew better than to press the matter further. “Well, you could at least tell me what you overheard in your little eavesdropping stint.”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping. I made my presence known.”

“What?!” Matthew exclaimed, stopping dead in his tracks. “You went inside?”

“Of course. It would have been indecent not to.”

“Chief, we don’t need more enemies! The Fire Nation is enough for us to deal with.” He paused. “At the very least I hope they didn’t decide to send someone after you.”

“They did, but I took care of it.”

Once again, Matthew stopped, his face pale. “How? Please tell me you left them alive…”

“Patience, I’ll explain everything to you and the rest in a moment,” Ivan replied nonchalantly as they rounded a corner and entered a conference room. The rest of the Water Tribe delegates sat around a long table, waiting impatiently to hear the results of the day’s meeting. Matthew took his place at a seat to the right of the head of the table, where Ivan stood, regarding his tribesmen solemnly.

“Unfortunately, my brothers and sisters, I come with both bad news and good news. The bad news is that chicken pig they call a president has declined to send aid to our struggling country. Pinning our final hopes to this nation will not be an option, both now and in the near future.”

Ivan glanced around at the disappointment that overtook his tribesmen’s features. He knew most of them had family members currently on the frontlines. Some of them had even lost sisters or fathers in the brutal battles that had stormed across the tribe’s lands over the last nine years. Others had friends and family in the refugee camps that had sprung up across the globe. He knew their current thoughts were with them, and by that he was unfathomably saddened.

“However, the good news is we have a new objective,” Ivan continued, trying to conceal his own desperation.

“What’s that, Chief?” asked a young man hopefully.

Ivan’s lips widened into a smile that was almost sinister. The delegates shivered as if a slight chill had passed through the room. “The princess of the Fire Nation is currently alone and at large in this city. For whatever reason, she seems to have decided to run away from her cushy palace life, and she picked a rather foolish time to do it. We’re going to capture her, and use her as a bargaining chip to end this awful war once and for all.”


	2. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Princess Akemi encounters darkness, a concerned friend, a turbulent family dinner, a berating servant, and some fateful decision-making.

Chapter Two: Shattered

The summer palace of the royal family was built into the side of a mountain. Nestled in a valley carpeted in trees, it was an important sanctuary from the bustle and noise of the metropolitan complexity of the country’s capital city. It was a place for contemplation and rest, much needed for the leaders of such an industrious nation. Though in truth, it was only a lake away from the outskirts of the city. Over the centuries, the city had crept up on it. Nevertheless, it was an important refuge.

The architects had been clever in designing it, taking advantage of the natural beauty of the mountain’s rocks, and carefully weaving a building that could coexist peacefully with it. Its spires were propped up by an army of pillars, allowing the rocky face of the cliff to poke through every once and a while. The palace had many layers, and there were endless staircases, some carved out of the stone, others built from the wood of the surrounding forests. And red, the official color of the Fire Nation, was everywhere.

There were also many rooms, so many not even the servants who lived there year round knew them all. The princess took full advantage of this, flying up and down the endless staircases, her gold-gilded red dress and long brown hair flowing out behind her. Eventually she came upon a dark pillared hall in a distant wing. It was dusty enough to tell her that she could count on not being disturbed. 

She glanced around, just to be sure, setting down the candle that had brought her there. When she was satisfied she was absolutely alone, she pulled out a scroll and unfurled it carefully, holding it up to the thin shafts of light trickling in between the columns. According to official policy, the interior of the royal palace was to be kept dark at all times, in order for the fires inside to appear bright even in daylight. But it sure made it hard to read when there wasn’t any fire around. And she did not dare light any of the braziers. Not with this reading material.

The scroll was old and battered, well-handled both by her and by whoever had owned it before. When she felt competent in what she read, she carefully rolled it back up and slung it in her sash, placing her feet in a firm and resolute stance and raising her arms.

“Okay, let’s hope this goes better than last time.”

With a decisive motion, a bouquet of flame spiraled out from her open palm. Instead of dissipating in a quick and violent burst, she let it wind and coil around her outstretched arm, like a golden glowing snake. The hairs on her arm singed from the proximity of the intense heat, but the princess smiled. “Not too bad.”  
Flush with success, she decided to try something new. Bringing her arms close to her body, she gathered the flames into a sphere right in front of her torso. Sweat dripped down her forehead, both from concentration and from the heat of the fire. Firebending traditionally expels the flame away from the body, never keeping in close contact with it for too long. But she was not practicing traditional firebending.

When the heat became too much, she stretched the flame out into a long luminescent rope, moving her arms along invisible circular paths and adjusting the stance of her feet when necessary. She cringed at her clunky movements and forced herself to focus even harder, losing herself in the effort necessary to bend the fire to her will. These smooth and deliberate motions were so unlike the quick jabs and powerful thrusts she had been taught as a firebender. 

“Hey, whatcha up to, Akemi?”

She spun around. A little too quick. She lost control of the fire and it bit hard into her arm before dissipating. She grimaced, glaring at whoever had managed to sneak up on her. 

It was Alfred, captain of the Firelord’s royal guard, and definitely not the quietest person she knew. How did he find her? And how in hell did he get so close? Maybe she had gotten a little carried away in her practice. She must be more careful. “Oh, hi, Alfred. I’m just… you know, practicing my bending. The next in line has got to be a top notch bender, right?”

Alfred sidled over knowingly. “Yeah of course, but… I’ve never seen anyone bend fire like that before. You wouldn’t be reading those waterbending scrolls again, would you?” He grinned knowingly. 

Akemi put a hand over the burn on her arm and eyed her bare feet guiltily. “I’m pretty bad at being secretive, aren’t I?”

“Worst I’ve ever met,” Alfred replied. “But don’t worry, Princess. Your secret is safe with me. I do want to remind you though: you might want to be a little more careful about studying the bending techniques of the tribe we’re currently at war with.”

At this, Akemi rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t that be the whole point though? Why shouldn’t we want to learn a thing or two about the methods of our enemies?”

“Well, methods of our enemies is one thing, but the way you looked just now, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone thought you’d rather be a waterbender. You’re the heir to the throne, Akemi. You can’t afford to make the wrong impression on people.”

Akemi touched the scroll in her sash. “You more than anyone should understand what I’m trying to do, Alfred,” she said quietly.

Alfred frowned, a shadow passing over his face. “You’re talking about my brother, aren’t you? You know I haven’t talked to him in years. He could’ve died in the war for all I care.”

“Alfred…”

The dark look in his eyes dissipated and was quickly replaced by his usual beaming smile. “Come on. Let’s go practice some real firebending together, what do you say? It’s really nice outside. It’s not right to spend the day cooped up in this freaky dark palace.”

Akemi followed her friend to the green mountains outside, but her mind remained unchanged.

***

Dinner that evening was quiet, as were most dinners. The Fire Nation royal family sat perched on pillows around a low square kotatsu table. The princess sat to the right of her father, the Firelord, while her mother sat to his left. Her younger brother Robert sat opposite. All four of them said little, preferring to pick at their sumptuous food in silence. 

Akemi often wondered what the servants thought of all this silence. It hadn’t always been this way. They used to have lively family conversations at the dinner table. She used to love telling her parents about everything she’d learned in her lessons, especially those on the history and politics of the world. Sometimes, after dinner, she would even demonstrate the new firebending moves she had added to her repertoire. Her brother had a knack for strategy, and used to talk incessantly about pai sho. 

But over the years, he had grown increasingly quiet. They all had. Especially as the war with the Southern Water Tribe stretched on, longer and longer. Akemi could only imagine the amount of stress her father was under at a time of such national peril, but even still, enough was enough. Maybe a little conversation would do them all some good.

“How was your day, Father?” she asked.

The Firelord paused, chopsticks pinched with noodles halfway to his mouth. He glanced at his daughter. “Not very good, but considerably better than it has been in recent months.”

When it was clear he wouldn’t elaborate any further on his own, Akemi pressed harder. “What’s the current status report on the front lines? As the princess I should be made aware of these things.”

Her father sighed wearily. “This war has been going on for far too long. I had hoped it would have concluded itself well before you came of age. I have been reluctant to provide you with sensitive information because of that long abandoned hope, and for that I apologize. But it is hardly conversation for the dinner table. Why don’t you wait until later this evening and ask me again?”

“Very well,” Akemi said, slumping slightly, desperately trying to think of something else to talk about. “Brother, I heard you won another pai sho tournament the other day. How many does that make, now? Are you a grandmaster yet?”

“I became a grandmaster almost three years ago, sister.”

“Oh. Well uh, congratulations?”

And once again the royal family slumped into silence. A few servants emerged from the ambient shadows to clear away the main course, replacing it with little bowls of green tea ice cream for dessert. It was Akemi’s absolute favorite, but tonight she couldn’t bring herself to a single bite.

Finally, after dabbing the corners of his mouth carefully with a napkin, her father spoke. “I was told you’ve been reading Water Tribe scrolls again, Akemi.”

Akemi sat up straighter. “Really? Who told you that?”

“That does not matter. What matters is your acting directly against my orders. I told you never to touch another one of those scrolls again.”

There is only one person Akemi can think of who could have ratted her out to her father, and she made a mental note to singe the eyebrows off of the man the next time she saw him. She should have known better than to trust the captain of the royal guard. He still answered directly to her father, after all.

“Nothing good can come out of reading those scrolls,” her father continued. “And I fail to see how they could be useful to a firebender in the first place. Water and fire are on opposite sides of the elemental coin. When you were a child, I had thought it was just a phase, so I let you get on without reprimanding you too harshly, but you are older now, and as much as it pains me to admit, the time for my retirement is fast approaching, and I can’t let the throne go to a Firelord caught up in an unhealthy infatuation with the enemy.”

“Besides, Akemi, I don’t get why you’re so interested in the Water Tribe in the first place,” Robert added. “You know the Fire Nation is far more industrious, and our military is objectively more powerful. There’s no technological comparison between us. It’s only a matter of time before we completely overrun them.”

“Then why haven’t we yet?” Akemi asked in a low voice.

Her brother looked incredulous. Her father’s face reddened, and a shadow passed across his brow.   
“Be careful what you say next,” her father warned.

Akemi knew she was in dangerous territory, but she couldn’t stop herself. She had been waiting too long to say what she now finally had the chance to say. “I’m only wondering: if we’re so mighty and powerful, why has this war gone on for almost nine years now? I know very well that we outmatch them in virtually every area. We have vastly more men. More advanced weaponry. A far larger naval fleet. Advanced intelligence organizations. And a far greater supply of natural resources and money. So taking all that into account, how come we’re still at a draw? What haven’t we tried yet? Maybe it’s time to learn more about the enemy, study their methods in order to find their weaknesses.”

“Do you think we haven’t been doing that all along?” Robert interjected. “That’s basic war strategy.”

“I know that!” Akemi snapped. “But there’s still a difference between studying the enemy’s tactics and strategies and truly learning about who they are, what their culture’s like, the intricacies of their bending techniques…”

“Akemi…” her mother interrupted. She had remained silent up until then, reluctant to wedge herself between the dispute between her husband and children, but now even she was alarmed at her daughter’s words and knew that nothing good could come of them.

But Akemi stubbornly continued: “I once read in a book somewhere that in order to defeat an enemy, to defeat them decisively, you must understand them well enough to love them.”

After she had said those words, a new kind of silence enveloped the room, the kind that presses on the ears almost as harshly as the drone of a powerful engine. Akemi was immediately overcome by a sense of simultaneous relief and regret. She regretted the consequences her words would have, but was relieved at finally having the opportunity to say them:

“The great General Iroh was renowned for his incorporation of waterbending techniques. And according to record, those same methods gave Firelord Zuko an edge in his Agni Kai against his tyrannical sister. And the Avatar blends bending techniques all the time. With all these examples, please explain to me why it is so horrible to want to learn from another culture?!”

“Because that culture is our enemy!!” her father bellowed, slamming his fist to the table. A small flame flickered across his knuckles. “We are at war! And there is no way in heaven or the middle kingdom that I will let the throne of the Fire Nation pass to a waterbending traitor!!”

With that, he stood up and stormed out of the room, bumping the table and spilling the last of his tea in the process. In the wake of his outburst, the cup rolled off the table and shattered against the hard ground below, the delicate sound echoing across the dining chamber. The servants were too shocked to react, and knew better than to make any sudden movements.

The queen looked close to tears. She quickly hurried after her husband, on a futile mission to calm him down before he decided to put his statement in official writing.

Akemi was left alone with her brother, who had withdrawn into himself and wore a pursed mouth and downcast, unseeing eyes. By then all the servants had fled, knowing better than to stick around when the Firelord was in this particular mood.

“How could you be so stupid?” Robert asked after a while.

“How am I being stupid?”

“You’re the heir to the throne. You should be working on learning the duties that go along with that, not running off into the far wings of the palace to practice waterbending. And at the very least, it could have been earth or airbending. We have more in common with those, and we don’t happen to be at war with them!”

Akemi looked hard into her brother’s hazel eyes. “Robert, I can’t honestly tell you why I’m so fascinated by the Water Tribe. I just am. And secondly, I know for a fact that just about everyone inside and outside this palace would rather have you for a firelord than me. I don’t know why Father is so insistent on having me as an heir when you’re clearly the more logical choice.”

Her brother was silent for a moment, knowing exactly why his father preferred his sister over him, but his lips slowly loosened at his sister’s compliment.

“Do you even know why we’re fighting this war?” Akemi asked him.

“I…” 

“That’s what I thought.” Akemi got up from the table and wandered away, holding her elbows and getting lost in her thoughts.

*** 

The fire princess sat in an upper tier of the palace, in a tight little turret built so close to the face of the cliff the structure practically merged with the mountain itself. She sat with her knees pulled to her chest without minding her skirt, having no reason to fear exposing herself or being chided for behaving indecently. From her high perch, she could see all the way to the distant capital. She could even catch glints of the steamships pulling out of the city’s harbor, their fog lights blinking at her from across the expansive and hazy night.

Akemi pulled her knees closer, defying the muddling heat. She was glad to finally have another moment alone, but unfortunately the solitude was doing little to clear her thoughts. She was just as conflicted as ever.

Suddenly she heard the muffled sound of approaching voices from a level below. Straining her neck, she caught a glimpse of them through a gap in the palace’s many spires, two servants standing on a balcony, engaged in idle conversation. 

“I heard the royal family dinner ended in conflagration again,” said the first, a young girl with her hair tied neatly in a bun. Even from this distance Akemi could tell she was rolling her eyes.

The second, an older woman, sighed. “Yes… the Firelord went storming off, scaring all the servants, especially the new recruits we got last month. They don’t know how to deal with him quite yet…”

“Ha! He’s such a child. I’ve never seen a grown man without a crown throw a tantrum like that.”

“Shh! Careful, you never know who could be listening…”

“You think I don’t know that? What are they gonna do to me? Throw me out? It’s what I want most, after six months of slaving for these crazies.”

“Even still, this is the royal family of the Fire Nation. You could be arrested for treason…” the older woman said, taking care to bring her voice to a whisper.

The young girl huffed. “I can’t be anymore treasonous than that princess of ours. Never in the history of the Fire Nation has a waterbender been the heir to the throne. If anything, it should go to her brot-”

“SHHHH!! That’s enough out of you! Go scrub the floor of the meeting hall!” the old woman screeched, shooing the younger servant off, despite her virulent protests.

Akemi leaned back after the servants had gone, getting lost in the returning silence. She then placed her feet on the ground and her elbows on her knees, hanging her head and letting her long brown hair cascade over her shoulders. What the servants had said proved her suspicions beyond any doubt. The whole nation either thought she was crazy or a traitor, and would rather have Robert sit on the throne. 

It wasn’t the accusations and suspicions that bothered her. It was only that despite the whole nation very clearly wanting, wishing for her brother as a leader, her father was stubbornly determined to appoint her instead. And she knew why. Ever since they were children, her father had clearly favored her, lavishing great praise upon her when she excelled in her firebending lessons while chiding her brother when he failed to do as well. Firebending came naturally to Akemi. It had come less naturally to Robert. 

Thinking back to what she had read on her nation’s history, she found it remarkable how similar their situation was to that of Firelord Zuko and his sister, Azula. She had been the prodigy firebender while he had had to work at it, yet he had proven to be the more capable leader in the end.

But she was not Azula, and Robert was not Zuko. For one, Robert did not have to undertake a grand quest for honor to prove his worth – he had already proven himself to be a master strategist, with an extensive base of knowledge on the country’s inner workings and a talent for public speaking besides. People looked up to him. People trusted him. That was definitely more than could be said about her.

Akemi closed her eyes and tried to picture her coronation day, to draw it out of the obscurity of the distant future. She pictured herself standing at the top of the grand palace in the capital, with roiling crowds stretching out endlessly below her. She pictured the heat of the sun on her face, the glint of the ceremonial hairpiece as it was lowered to her head. In her vision, she made eye contact with her brother from across the courtyard. In his eyes, she saw his pride and sincere happiness for her, his utter willingness to serve under her as she became his firelord, but she also caught a glimpse of the deeper truth: the truth that they both knew, deep down, that he was more deserving than her. But it wasn’t for the reason most of the rest of the nation thought. It wasn’t because she was a waterbending nutcase. It was because he was the natural born leader.

Akemi snapped open her eyes and craned her neck up from its sullen hanging state. She looked out across the lake separating the summer palace from the rest of the fire capital, catching the flecks of light of the distant city and the occasional ships sailing by. 

Suddenly, she is struck by an idea.

What if she did something so drastic her father would have no choice but to renounce her claim to the throne? What if she removed herself from the equation entirely?

***

Later that night, a steamship bound for Republic City pulled out of the harbor of the Fire Naiton capital. Little did the crew know that their cargo included a stowaway princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter Two! 
> 
> I hope to post a chapter a day until I'm all caught up (I've got five finished by this point), and then hopefully every weekend till it's done. Please drop a review and tell me what you think!


	3. Spent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet a spirited swindler, a broken radio, some heated arguments, and a chance encounter in a marketplace

Chapter Three: Spent

“What do you mean you want 20 yuan for that?! That hunk of junk isn’t even worth 15!!”

The pawnbroker regarded the plucky young woman with revision. “If you don’t want it, Miss, I can just as easily take my business somewhere else.”

“Like hell you can!” the girl retorted. “I know very well no one else in this neighborhood is willing to work with you, you dirty thief. And I also know you’re too fat and lazy to lug yourself any farther than Sokka Street, and too much of a chicken pig to strike deals with the real criminals in this part of town. So like it or not, you’re stuck with me, so are you gonna trade or not?”

The heads of passersby craned curiously in the direction of the heated exchange. Those just passing through were quick to look away, but the locals began to gather around in a small crowd. This was a frequent source of entertainment for them. Both the pawnbroker and the young girl were well-known in the neighborhood, as were their slightly less-than-legal deals. Nothing major enough to merit the attention of the metalheads, (their slang for the police), but enough to keep things interesting on the poorer drags of Republic City.

She was a spunky thing: somewhat short, but what she lacked in height she made up for in attitude and resolve. Her clothes were on the shabby side, but she took special pride in her hair, which was cropped short in a stylish bob that curled slightly around her ears. She styled it with a headband she wore to keep it out of her eyes when dealing with chumps like this. On top of being a talented swindler, she was also one of the best earthbenders in the district. Even the local gang bosses respected her. 

Needless to say, the pawnbroker didn’t stand a chance.

Picking up the item in question – a dilapidated old radio – she examined it closer, peering at every crack and bang, glancing pointedly at the greasy man as she spotted each defect. “So what’s it gonna be, fatso? You gonna try to stick this on someone who’s willing to call a spade a spade and refuse to buy this piece of shit, or are you gonna take my gracious offer of 14 yuan and be done with it?”

“Every time I make the mistake of selling to you…” the man grumbled.

Off to the side, the small crowd of fans subtly leaned in closer, silently cheering on their favorite swindler girl. “You tell him, Keiko!” a tiny boy called, pushing his way through the legs of the other spectators to get a better look.

Keiko stared at the pawnbroker expectantly, raising an eyebrow and tapping her finger impatiently on the table of her vending stall. “What’s it gonna be?” she repeated.

Hemming and hawing, the ugly man stroked his scraggly beard in an attempt to appear reluctant, but he knew he had already been bested. She was right about the fact that he was unwilling to risk selling to actual gang lords, and that he was too lazy to move his operations much beyond this neighborhood. She was the only one who consistently bought his useless crap, and so he was forced to take whatever price she offered. “Oh, alright. Here’s your radio,” he muttered, handing it to her and taking the measly change.

The crowd cheered, then immediately dispersed, conscious enough not to draw too much attention from the nearby patrol of metalheads. The pawnbroker waddled away, cursing under his breath, off to attempt another sad little deal.

But Keiko was less than pleased. She had asked the old dope to find her a working radio weeks ago, and the one he finally managed to procure probably wasn’t even worth the fourteen yuan she had paid him for it. In truth, she felt a little sorry for the man. She knew he was little more than a good-for-nothing lazybones who barely managed to roll himself out of bed in the morning, but she also knew he had faithfully cared for his sick mother right up until she had passed away, and he’d become a little heartbroken since then. Part of his laziness was just him missing the last family he had left. Just about everyone had a story that reached beyond their shoddy, simple appearance, especially in this part of the city.

Even still, she groaned at the thought of all the extra work she would have to do to get this radio working. Resting her elbows on the knotted wood of her vending stall, she turned it over in her hands, reexamining all its bangs and bruises. She cracked open the body and swore. There were wires missing.

“Alright, whatever. It’s about time I went home anyway,” she said, tossing her useless new toy in her bag and closing up her stall.

***

She arrived home in low spirits, utterly exhausted from a day’s worth of arguing with brokers and lying through her teeth to all the tourists dumb enough to stop at her stall. The disappointing radio had been the straw that broke the camel’s back – or her back, at any rate. She had no idea where that expression came from or what a camel even was. Regardless, during the long walk home she had only gotten angrier about it. It was all she could do not to hunt down that stupid pawnbroker and rip his beard off, hair by straggling hair.

“Kara, I’m home,” she called to her older sister as she opened the door to their cramped apartment. “I brought noodles from Narook’s…”

Keiko stopped dead. The apartment looked like it had thrown up, violently, and the remnants of its innards covered the floors and even clung to the walls. It looked like something she saw in all those newsreels about the Fire-Water War they showed before the movers: a complete and irrevocable disaster. Crumpled and saturated napkins and empty beer bottles buried the floor from view. Feathers from punctured pillows clung to everything: the couch, the cruddy chairs, the walls. Unrecognizable spilled liquids filled in any possible clean space, and the whole room reeked of something sour and stale.

In the midst of it all lay her sister, passed out and sprawled like a hog monkey after one too many bananas. What Keiko recognized as Kara’s latest boyfriend lay draped over the couch, snoring contentedly amidst the chaos that he no doubt helped create.

“AAAggghhhhh!!!” Keiko moaned, dropping her satchel and the carryout bag on the filthy floor with a thud and grabbing the ends of her cropped hair. “This is the LAST thing I need today!!”

At her sister’s shouting, Kara stirred, fluttering her eyes groggily and turning her head to look up at Keiko. “Oh, hi Kei… Sorry about the mess. Lee and I were jus-”

“You were just what?” Keiko demanded. “You were just what, Kara? About to go out drinking again and leave me behind to clean up your fucking mess? Like you do almost every night?? How the hell did you even drink this much already?! It’s only seven!!”

Kara propped herself up on her elbows, looking at her younger sister unapologetically. “You don’t clean up my messes every night. It was just that one time. And besides, you make enough messes yourself, and you don’t hear me complaining.”

“No, I really don’t,” Keiko retorted sarcastically, moving from boiling anger to something deeper and more dangerous. “And that’s why I’m more than happy to clean your messes, just so you don’t have to. And work my ass off every day. And comfort your whiny ass every time a guy stops giving you the time of day. Just like this loser will when he realizes what a pain in the fucking ass you are!” 

By now, Kara was sitting completely upright on the floor. “Don’t bring Lee into this. He didn’t do anything to deserve your fiery wrath.”

“Of course he didn’t!” Keiko cried. “You obviously accomplished this masterpiece all by yourself, just to piss me off. Well, guess what: I had a really bad day today, and I was already pretty thoroughly pissed the moment I walked through the door, so your mess really didn’t do much for me. I’m mostly upset about the fact that you’re lying in the middle of it. What did you and Lee even do all day while I was slaving away trying to earn money to keep us from starving?”

“It’s my day off.”

“It’s always your day off!! Do you even have a job anymore?!”

Kara crossed her arms, looking incredibly childish for a woman in her early twenties. “Maybe I’m looking for a new one. What do you care? I’m an adult. I can do what I want with my life.”

“Kara!” Keiko groaned. “As long as we share an apartment, I care a whole fucking lot what you do! I expect you to come up with your side of the rent! I can’t make enough to buy food AND a place to live!!”

By now, Kara had risen to her feet. “Well, then maybe you should grow up and get a real job then. Stop running around like a common criminal. It was cute when we were kids, but you’re over twenty now. Start acting your age!”

A menacing shadow passed into Keiko’s eyes. “It’s pretty fucking rich being told by you to act my age, especially when you’re standing in a pile of your own shit. Secondly, my acting like a ‘common criminal’ is what kept us alive for all these years. And third, you have exactly five seconds to start cleaning up this mess or I swear to heaven above that I will throw your ass out.”

Kara sneered. “You’d never throw me out.”

“Five seconds.”

But Kara refused to move, staring at her sister with stubborn loathing.

“Five… four…” Keiko counted. “Three…”

“This is ridiculous,” Kara said, stalling. “Ever since Mom and Dad died you’ve been so overbearing. When are you going to get it in your head that you’re not our mother? They’re both gone, but you just can’t seem to accept that. You keep trying to pretend like everything’s alright, that nothing’s changed. Well, things change, Keiko! And now Abi’s gone, too. I bet she ran off and joined the United Forces just so she could get away from you!!”

At those words, Keiko lost it. Stomping her feet to the ground in a wide and firm stance, she directed a powerful ripple of earth through the floor of the apartment, picking up her sister on its crest and chucking her out the window with a startled cry. She landed harmlessly on the awning of the shop right below, but even from inside Keiko could hear her indignant swearing. 

At this, Kara’s boyfriend finally stirred. “W-what the hell is going on?” he muttered sleepily.

Not willing to put up with this guy’s shit too, Keiko made quick work of him, tipping him out the window on another wave of the earthen floor. She stuck her head out, looking down at her sister and her deadbeat boyfriend. “Just get the hell out of here before you make me really angry!” 

Her sister, wary of all the curious looks their little spat was gathering, wisely decided to swallow the retort she had ready. Keiko doubted it would have been very witty anyhow. Instead, she and her boyfriend clambered off of the awning and slinked away before the shopkeeper could notice they had unexpected visitors dropping in from above. Keiko figured they would just continue their original plans and go out to the local bars, but if they tried to come back, she’d be ready. She was serious when she said she’d kick her out. She was sick and tired of putting up with her sister’s crap, no matter how hard it would be to pay the rent without her. And besides, Kara was a big girl. She could find a way to take care of herself.

Keiko slinked over to the couch. Clearing a spot amid the wreckage, she sank into its meager cushions. She stared at the incredible parting gift her sister had left behind. It truly was spectacular. It would take decades to clean up this eyesore, especially all the stains left behind by whatever concoctions those two had been guzzling.

She rolled up her sleeves and set to work in the dying light. She wouldn’t be able to sleep until her house was in shape again.  
***

The Republic City police chief sat hunched over his desk, scrawling away at seemingly endless paperwork. Normally, this was the job of the station secretary, but he was the kind of man to do as much as he could by himself, to make certain it was done properly. In school, he had been the kid who did all the work in group projects. The dark office was lit by a single dim light, dangling from a wire overhead, and at times like these he wished he had splurged on a better fixture. Just another late night spent behind the scenes of the more exciting side of police work.

A knock came from the door.

“Yes?” the chief called, not even bothering to lift his head.

A young officer entered the room. The chief recognized him as the one he had sent to tail the chief of the Southern Water Tribe. He looked a little sheepish. “Good evening, sir.”

“Skip the formalities. It’s eleven o’clock at night. What’s your report?” the chief said, still not lifting his attention from the paperwork.

“Uh, that’s just the thing, chief…I have nothing to report. I uh, I lost him.”

At this, the police chief finally looked up. He set down his pen and stared hard at the young man. “What do you mean, you lost him? You were tailing him to a known location. We know exactly where the Southern Water Tribe delegates are staying. Why didn’t you simply head there?”

“Uhm, the Ice Ki- er, water chief uh, knocked a tower of cabbages on me and uh, by the time I resurfaced and made my way over there, the waterbenders had already left the guesthouse. I tried asking the innkeeper where they might have been off to, but uh, s-she couldn’t say…” The young rookie rubbed the back of his head nervously, sweat running down his temples.

For a tense moment, Ludwig was silent, shuffling some papers and adding them to his stack of completed files. He fixed his stern gaze on the officer. “Well then, can you at least tell me how the search for the fire princess has been going?”

“H-how what has been going?”

“The search for the missing fire princess.”

“Uh, I don’t believe an official order was ever given for that, s-sir…” The young officer was really sweating.

“No, I gave the order early this afternoon.”

“Well uh, all the same, no one was ever dispatched on those orders…” The rookie looked close to tears now.

Ludwig gave a long and drawn out sigh, leaning over his desk and putting his head in his hands, trying desperately to keep from blowing up at this kid. Ever since he had been an officer himself, he was infamous in the service for his fiery outbursts at those who failed to fulfill their duty, but once he had become chief, he had vowed to reign himself in more. Allow benefit of the doubt, and all that hogwash. “Well, however this may have happened, consider it an order now,” he said through gritted teeth.

When the rookie didn’t move, he snapped up and glowered at him. “What are you waiting for? More cabbages?!” he snapped. “Assemble a search team at once! I want them to cover the entire city center by dawn!!”

With that, Ludwig picked up the officer’s uniform with his bending and hurled the kid straight through the doorway, sending him careening down the hall. He slammed the metal-studded door behind him. Outside, the young officer bolted upright and scurried away like a rabbit running from a voracious wolf, grateful the chief hadn’t thrown him farther, or worse, assigned him paperwork.

 

***

Early the next morning, the captain of the Fire Nation royal guard stood leaning against a fruit stand in an open air market towards the center of the city, munching on an apple and ignoring the pointed glares the shopkeeper was giving him for loitering. He and a select group of some of the other top firebenders in the guard had arrived in Republic City just a few hours ago, on a mission to hunt down the runaway princess and get her back home safely. For Alfred, this was a particularly sentimental mission, in part because he had grown up in Republic City, and in part because he was genuinely concerned about the princess. 

Despite their difference in rank, the two of them were not that different in age. Alfred would even go so far as to say they were childhood friends. He had moved to the Fire Nation with his father when he was around nine, in order to start training with the masters and take his father’s place on the royal guard someday. Akemi was six – an inquisitive little girl who liked to make friends with everyone she met. One day, when he was practicing his bending stances in the royal garden, she came up to him, trying to mimic his moves. As soon as he noticed, he started practicing some of the most difficult stances he knew, and laughed when the six-year-old toppled over trying to imitate them. But that only seemed to make the little girl more determined. 

Alfred still remembered the intense look she gave him as she tried once more to copy his routine. She was still far from perfect, but if one were judge by the resolve in her expression, she’d have been called a master. Once she was done, he went over and apologized, and even offered to train with her in the future. She accepted, and the two stuck close by ever since.

Until now, of course. The captain took one last chomp of his apple and threw the remaining core in a trash bin. He surveyed the bustling marketplace, taking whiffs of the fruit and vegetables giving off their earthy aromas in the beating morning sunlight. He spotted two of his subordinates on the other side of the open square and walked over to them. “So, did you find out anything?” he asked.

“Not since you stepped away to have one of your heroic brooding sessions, captain,” one guardsman retorted. She was a spunky little thing, and one of the only guardsman Alfred tolerated backtalk from.

“Several of the venders said they heard rumors of a girl who fits the princess’s general description near the docks, but apart from that, nothing new,” said the other guardsman.

“So, all we got are rumors so far, huh?” Alfred said disappointedly. “Let’s hope the other teams are having better luck than we are.”

***

Keiko spent most of the day working on her new radio. The more she worked on it, the more she was convinced it really was a piece of shit. Between tinkering with what little wiring remained inside and running errands all morning for the missing parts, she had little time for anything else. But she really wasn’t terribly miffed about it. If she was being completely honest with herself, she enjoyed playing with all the latest technological gadgets. It was fascinating to crack them open and spill their secrets. 

Not that this hunk had many secrets to spill. Despite the convincing Future Industries trademark stamped on the bottom, Keiko was pretty sure it was a knockoff. And a heavily outdated knockoff at that. But whatever. Keiko’s primary motive in acquiring the radio from her friend the pawnbroker wasn’t to ogle over its fancy guts, but to actually use it. Keiko wanted to listen to the probending matches.

Ever since she was a little kid, Keiko had been a diehard fan. Her dad used to even take her to a match or two every month in the ritzy arena toward the city center. It was one of her favorite ways of spending time with him. He used to joke that she’d make an excellent probender once she grew up a little. Keiko later figured this was probably his way of showing pride towards the only bender in the family, which was also the reason why he almost never took her sisters along with them to the matches.

Keiko sighed, trying to force the painful memories back, but it was especially hard now that there was no one else in the apartment to distract her darker thoughts.

Her parents had died when she and her sisters were still pretty young. An epidemic had swept mercilessly across the city. Hospitals were overcrowded, and it got to a point where not everyone could find proper treatment. Not unless they were willing and able to pay for it, that is. Keiko and her sisters were miraculously spared, but their parents had both fallen ill around the same time. Keiko tried to nurse them as best she could, but she was only ten, and she really had little to no idea what to do.

Once they were gone, it was just her and her sisters. Keiko became the unofficial head of the family, in part because she was the only bender, and in part because she was a naturally gifted leader. In order to earn money for food and rent, she and her younger sister, Abi, started a little swindling operation, street scams mostly. They had a knack for selling useless crap to tourists.

One of Keiko’s favorite stunts was filling little dolls made of burlap with pebbles and manipulating them with her bending to make them dance. The tourists loved it, especially those from outside the Earth Kingdom who were less likely to figure out the trick. Though what Keiko had loved most about it was that it wasn’t quite a trick – any earthbender could take the doll home and learn to do it themselves. Abi’s favorite stunt, on the other hand, was filling little vials with air bison piss and passing them off as a wart-removing elixir.

Kara wasn’t a fan of their antics, even though it put food in her mouth and kept the roof over their heads. She also was rarely ever to keep a decent job herself, and flitted from one place to the next, sometimes getting fired, other times simply growing bored. Keiko and Abi sometimes teamed up to play pranks on her. She was easy prey.

As they grew up, however, Kara and Keiko got into more and more arguments. Oftentimes it was a matter of pride – as firstborn, Kara would sometimes wonder why she wasn’t the unofficial head of the family. Keiko would retort that it was because she was a lazy couch surfer who couldn’t keep a job down. Needless to say, those constant arguments were tiresome, and eventually Abi got so sick and tired of it, she left and joined the United Forces. That’s how Keiko figured it, at least.

And the family of three became the family of two. Keiko and Kara managed to live together in relative harmony for several months, with Kara still bouncing between jobs and boyfriends and Keiko still doing most of the real breadwinning, at least until last night.

And now Keiko was alone, with the cramped and dirty apartment she had grown up in all to herself. 

She was actually a little surprised Kara hadn’t come back yet. This wasn’t the first time she had kicked her out (though it was the first time she had thrown her out of the window), and usually she trickled back after the first night or so, in a disgruntled mood but willing enough to apologize, at least nonverbally. They had an unwritten agreement that if Keiko could put up (for the most part) with Kara’s less-than-intelligent life choices, then Kara was okay with getting kicked out and reprimanded every once and a while. Because at the end of the day they were sisters, and they cared about each other. Not perfectly, but the bond was there.

They also just needed a place to live.  
Keiko inhaled sharply through her nose and shook her head a bit, trying to refocus her thoughts on the radio in front of her. “Goddammit!” she exclaimed for the trillionth time that day. “Another fricken tube missing! How did I miss that?”

She stood up sharply, slamming the stupid thing on the table and knocking her chair over backward in the process. Guess she’d just have to go out and scrounge up yet another missing part. This time she wisely decided to take the radio with her.

***

Outside, it was a day like any other in Republic City: stifling and crowded. As Keiko made her way down all the familiar streets, she couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed by all the people, especially since it was the end of the day rush hour. Despite living here her entire life, she always felt like there were constantly too many people around her, and the abrasive heat of the sun didn’t help much either. She thought wistfully about visiting the country someday, or even hiking the mountains just outside the city limits…

She was yanked violently from her thoughts by a passing truck that almost ran her over. “Hey, watch it, buddy!” she yelled at the driver. 

He slowed and stuck his head out the window. “You watch it, you crazy stint!”

Not in the mood for verbal banter, Keiko planted her feet firmly on the ground and drew her arms across her chest, sending a ripple of earth that carried off the truck and the rude driver with it. Not enough to damage it, but enough to teach the guy a lesson.

With that, she continued her search for a radio tube. 

After walking for a ways, she eventually made her way out of her neighborhood and into a cleaner cut part of town. She arrived at her favorite open air market, on a big square of cobblestones toward the center of the city. The Wilds especially loved it here, and between all the produce stands sprouted massive vines crawling with spirits. To Keiko, it was quite a contrast: the loud and obnoxious humans buying and selling endless amounts of crap intermixed with the colorful and peaceful spirits, quietly going about their day, some pretending as if the humans weren’t there at all. Keiko liked the spirits. She didn’t get to see many of them in her part of town. It was a treat every time she made her way over here.

She decided to loiter around the marketplace for a bit, maybe snatch a kiwi or two.

As she was inconspicuously rummaging through a basket in an old vender’s display, however, she noticed something from across the square. Or someone, rather: a fairly short and small young woman with dark hair and unusually pale skin, dressed in baggy red Fire Nation garb. She was quite obviously a tourist, judging both by her funny, outdated clothes and by the awkward and self-conscious way she was carrying herself, clasping her hands to her elbows and pretending to muse over a particularly overripe basket of lychees. She clearly didn’t want to buy anything. After over ten years of swindling, Keiko knew when someone wanted to buy something. This girl was browsing just for show, in hopes of blending in, and she was doing a very poor job of it.

Normally, Keiko wouldn’t have paid her any mind. Whoever this girl was or whatever she was up to was none of her business. But after almost an entire day spent fuming over an uncooperative radio, Keiko was bored, in need of a little change of pace. She set across the market to talk to her.

The girl jumped when she noticed Keiko making her way towards her, another sure sign that she was from out of town and not used to random strangers approaching her. She immediately tried to recover by picking up two lychees and examining them intently. 

“Hey, you decide which ones you want to buy yet?” Keiko asked.

The girl pretended not to hear, putting one of the small, spiny fruits to her nose to sniff. A couple tiny spirits floated dreamily past her ear.

“I’m only saying something because those lychees are way overripe, you know,” Keiko continued, undeterred.

“Maybe I like them that way.”

Okay, so she could talk. “No one likes overripe lychees. They’re squishy and gross.”

The vender of the lychees in question gave her a withering scowl.

“Besides,” Keiko said, ignoring the old hag and sidling closer to the Fire Nation girl. “It makes them almost impossible to peel.” When the girl once again didn’t answer, Keiko switched tactics. “What’s your name? You’re clearly not from around here, so where’d you come from?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m from the Fire Nation.”

“Yeah, your clothes are red, I get it, but lots of people in Republic City wear red and aren’t necessarily from the Fire Nation. This used to be a fire colony, after all. Lots of people are descended from the settlers who came here during the Hundred Year War.”

“Really?” The girl looked at Keiko curiously, replacing the fruit in the basket.

“Uh yeah, but just about every third grader knows that. So where the hell are you from, in the Fire Nation?”

Once again, the girl was silent.

Keiko furrowed her brows impatiently. “Well, if you aren’t going to tell me that, at least tell me your fricken name.”

“Why do you want to know my name?”

“Who knows? Maybe I’m just bored. I like it when people tell me things.”

“…it’s Akane,” she said at last.

“Well, Akane, by the looks of it, that pair of waterbenders over there seem pretty into you,” Keiko replied, nodding in the direction of two young men dressed in Southern Water Tribe garb, pretending to examine a selection of fish at a stand across the market. Sure enough, every now and then they would throw a glance at the Fire Nation girl.

“Why would they…” the girl started, trailing off as a new look came into her eyes. Not just the discomfort of being in an unfamiliar environment, but fear. The glazed look of something hunted. She dropped her lychees and hurried away from the fruit stand, moving to a corner of the market shrouded in spirit vines.

“Wait, what the- am I missing something here?” Keiko asked, trailing after her.

“Why are you following me?”

“Are those guys giving you a hard time or something?” Keiko questioned by way of an answer. “If they’re stalkers, I’d be happy to send them a message that’ll teach them to away from you. I’m a bender.”

“No, they’re not stalking me,” the girl replied, peering through a tangle of the ropey vines at the tribesmen. They were still at the seafood stand, but instead of haggling over fish, they seemed to be sharing a very important conversation. “Maybe they haven’t noticed me yet…”

“Oh, trust me. They noticed you.”

The Fire Nation girl slowly tried to inch her way down a side street and out of the marketplace. Sure enough, the two waterbenders immediately ceased their discussion and started towards the cluster of vines. The girl had thought she was hidden. But even without knowing the full story, Keiko knew that these were the kind of men who were nearly impossible to hide from. Not knowing what else to do, the girl suddenly turned and bolted down the alleyway. The waterbenders immediately sprinted after her, casting long, sinuous ropes of water from their canteens in an attempt to snag her.

Keiko bolted after her. This seemed like fun.

“Running was the absolute worst thing you could have done,” Keiko huffed, catching up and running beside her.

“Why are you still following me?!”

“I told you! I’m bored, and I was looking for something to do! Plus,” Keiko added, glancing around the alleyway. “Unlike you and your waterbending friends, I was born and raised here. So I happen to know a few shortcuts.” 

She took a hard and sudden left. The Fire Nation girl, still clearly disconcerted by the appearance of the two men, decided to follow her. The waterbenders continued casting sinewy lassos of water after the two girls, careful not to waste their water supply.

“Helping me could get you killed, you know!” the mysterious girl said, dodging the water ropes.

“Yeah well, I didn’t have much else planned for the day anyway,” Keiko replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's me again, back with another chapter! 
> 
> Let me know if you see any issues with names. I originally wrote this using my friend's actual name and used ctrl-h to change it, and I didn't do a very thorough job of combing through to make sure it got everything.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Man it's been a while since I wrote a fanfiction. I am writing this story specifically for a friend of mine, but decided to share it with the internet along the way. I hope you all like it, or at least those among you who would choose to read a fic without major ships or Korra characters, haha (though Korra WILL make an appearance later on, I promise, and Asami too. They're gonna be the cutest pair of badass grandmas ever).
> 
> Rated for teen audiences because of swearing, and some violence that will come later. Might bump up to mature if the violence turns really graphic, I'm not decided yet.
> 
> Additional Notes:
> 
> 1\. In case you aren't a huge Russian culture/history nerd like me, be aware that all Slavic first names come with a set of diminutives/nicknames, which I'll incorporate throughout the story: Natasha for Natalya, Katya or Katyusha for Ekaterina, Vanya for Ivan, etc. Each diminutive carries a certain emotional connotation, too. General rule is: the longer the diminutive, the more endearing it is, and the shorter the diminutive is, the ruder it is. Natasha, Katya, and Vanya are pretty neutral. 
> 
> 2\. I realized as I was revising that I wrote this chapter before Trump got elected, so coming across the section with the United Republic president left me a little... sad...
> 
> 3\. I hope you all enjoy! This'll be a lot of fun to write~


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